A School’s Guide to a Successful Software Launch

Hearing about a school’s success is one of the best parts of my job. I’m excited to highlight Greg Baschuk, Director of Information Technology at St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School (Oakville, ON), and his work implementing all four “ON” products at his school.

Implementing new software is a heavy lift, let alone leading a major paradigm shift in your school community. Greg understood the value of having the whole school connected, which led him to choose the “ON” products. Stressing the importance of having one system, one login, and one experience for St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School, he explained:

“We were coming from a multi-system environment that had no integration between the various databases. The “ON” products replaced most of these systems and gave us the integration we were looking for. We didn’t find this sort of inherit integration available from any other vendor in the K-12 space.”

When I spoke with Greg, the standout item for me was the way in which he prepared the teachers, parents, and students for the new software. This may have seemed like an impossible task, given that the school was looking to implement in September and the ink on the contract was signed in early March, but Greg noted that he had an ace up his sleeve when it came to rolling out the “ON” products. He told me:

“The training we received on every aspect of the new system made it clear that these experts have experience in launching schools. Plus, the benefit of the “ON” products is the interface. The user experience is so intuitive.”

Greg developed a strong checklist to roll out onCampus, our Learning Management System and onRecord, our Student Information System. He had such a clear plan on how to go about communicating, that it inspired me to build a Countdown to Launch infographic to capture his process and offer some useful tips.

Take a moment and check out this comprehensive infographic. It’s a great resource if you are in the early stages of planning your implementation or just thinking about making the shift to connect your whole school community.

Just click below to view and download the full-size infographic. It’s time to prepare your school community for launch!

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